Olympic Torch

[spicynacho]

This torch situation seems pretty ridiculous. I thought the whole point of it was to let people see the torch and get excited about the olympics. Instead they change the route constantly, shorten it and try to avoid people as much as possible.

Pretty soon, they will have to add on environmentalists to their list of protestors for flying this stupid torch around the world just to relay it from runway 1 to runway 3 and flying an airbus A330 to do nothing but pollute.

[Kirsty_Mc]

I am going to be incredibly good... and have NOTHING TO SAY!!!

[jsteinhauer]

All I'm going to say, is that if you invite the Olympics, you deserve every last bit of international scrutiny and feedback, both positive and negative, the limelight brings upon you.

[CassilineKnight]

I agree with the above poster.

I have nothing against Chinese people in general (although I've met quite a few rude/racist ones) but the Chinese govt is probably one of the evil ones I've ever seen in my life.

I support boycotting The Olympics but I won't go to any extremes. I just think the US should not participate and I wouldn't give an ounce of my money to anything related to The Olympics this time around...

[Zipzap713]

Anyone see San Fran's Olympic Torch moment? Bizzare.
Anyway I find these protests are just abnoxious. The Olympics are supposed to be about Sports, not politics. I hope they don't boycott. The people it hurts the most are the athletes. They train for years, and then get boycotted. Just stupid.

I think it would be hillarious though if there were protesters protesting against the protests. Ah that would have made my day.

[Bigdog]

Where were these scumsucking freaks on the morning of 9/12/01 the day after 3000 innocent humans were slaughtered in America

Where are they when Muslim Fanatics STONE Humans and Carve Human Heads off on Live TV.

Where are they when the Palestinians send "Human Bombs" into Israel to kill little kids on busses.

Hey Frisco Scum Protesters,
"KISS MY WHITE A$$"
You rotten bastards

I found this on another board i belong to posted by a fellow member there and could not agree more with it! Im am sick and tired of hearing these "lets find another cause to fight for once a week hippys" who contribute 0 to this country except hate filled protest against are own people 9 times out of ten, like the idiots at berkeley!

[DutchBoy]

I'll abstain other than to see that I see this thread going no-place good...

[spicynacho]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

I found this on another board i belong to posted by a fellow member there and could not agree more with it! Im am sick and tired of hearing these "lets find another cause to fight for once a week hippys" who contribute 0 to this country except hate filled protest against are own people 9 times out of ten, like the idiots at berkeley!

I am not trying to pass any value judgements on the protesters or the Chinese government's policies. While many of the protesters are flavor of the month protesters, their are a great deal of "seeds" that are very focused on specific issues everyday like amnesty international and human rights watch.

My beef is with changing courses to shorter unpublicized courses which avoid people and having the torchbearers flanked so deep by security gaurds that no one can see the torch at all. Where ever they go (outside of china), they will face protests and if they are unwilling or unable to deal with the protests and still carry out their objective of exhibiting the torch to generate excitement for the games, they should just take the thing straight to china and not waste the time and resources.

[Hecmor]

Originally Posted by spicynacho

flavor of the month protesters,.

+1

[Rob71]

I've never seen the use of protests because usually the protesters just wind up looking like fools. But if there is any group that needs to have the spotlight put on them, the Chinese government would be high on my list.

[Cordre69]

In this day in age, I assume protestors are just bloggers with no PCs.
Didn't we basically set up the whole blog thing so we wouldn't have the raving lunatics running amok in the real world?
I'm not taking a stance on this issue (well, none I'll say) but I do hate the protestors. People waving signs around...it's so silly. No one will ever take them seriously. They are just proving they have no jobs and nothing better to do than take up space. Yeah, like those are really the people I want to determine politics/policy/etc.

[w_tanoto]

Although I am chinese ethnically, I have to say that what chinese government do to tibet is just horrible, and I sided with the protestors, although I won't be as extreme....

I saw the flame passing through London, but thankfully it wasn't Beijing 2008, but Athens 2004 flame.

[sj001]

I see this thread getting locked...

[dialog_gvf]

Yeah. This is dangerously political.

We are of all races, religions, political and sexual persuasions here. We all support Blu-ray, and that shows how silly the other differences can be.

Greetings my brothers and sisters. Pop in a BD movie and enjoy.

Gary

[groovyone]

Did people forget the US boycotted the Olympics before for political reasons?

US boycotted the Moscow games in 80, and Russia boycotted the 84 summer games in Los Angeles.

[2112]

Originally Posted by spicynacho

I thought the whole point of it was to let people see the torch and get excited about the olympics.

It will take a whole lot more than a torch to get me excited about the Olympics!!

[cking2729]

Originally Posted by groovyone

Did people forget the US boycotted the Olympics before for political reasons?

US boycotted the Moscow games in 80, and Russia boycotted the 84 summer games in Los Angeles.

Point being? Many western nations have boycotted Olympic games for one reason or another.

IMO, we need to just chill out and let the Olympics go on as planned. The Olympics are supposed to be about setting all this crap aside for a few weeks. It's a shame it's become more of a political platform than anything. The politicians calling for a boycott are just stirring up trouble, and I'll reframe from pointing them out so I don't get banned.

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by cking2729

Point being? Many western nations have boycotted Olympic games for one reason or another.

IMO, we need to just chill out and let the Olympics go on as planned. The Olympics are supposed to be about setting all this crap aside for a few weeks. It's a shame it's become more of a political platform than anything. The politicians calling for a boycott are just stirring up trouble, and I'll reframe from pointing them out so I don't get banned.

My point is it isn't the first time politics have impacted the olympics, but some of the posters in the thread seem surprised that it would happen.

[Anthony P]

IMO, we need to just chill out and let the Olympics go on as planned. The Olympics are supposed to be about setting all this crap aside for a few weeks. It's a shame it's become more of a political platform than anything.

agree 100% the Olympics should be about putting our differences aside and forgetting them for a few days and competing at a sporting level. In the end these protests don't do anything. China won't change it's policies because someone managed to extinguish the flame or because a country boycotted the games (even though they spend billions buying goods from them)